This invention relates to a bioabsorbable copolymer and, more particularly, to a bioabsorbable copolymer obtained by polymerizing a major amount of .epsilon.-caprolactone and a minor amount of at least one other copolymerizable monomer in the presence of a polyhydric alcohol initiator.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,169,945 discloses a homopolymer of .epsilon.-caprolactone obtained by polymerizing .epsilon.-caprolactone in the presence of a polyhydric alcohol initiator such as glycerol, erythritol, sorbitol, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,692 discloses a homopolymer of glycolide and a copolymer derived from glycolide and lactide obtained by polymerizing the monomers in the presence of inositol as initiator.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,532 discloses a suture coating composition obtained by polymerizing lactones such as .epsilon.-caprolactone in the presence of a polymethylenediol.
Copolymers derived from .epsilon.-caprolactone and at least one other monomer such as glycolide, lactide, p-dioxanone and trimethylene carbonate are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,605,730, 4,624,256, 4,700,704, 4,788,979, 4,791,929, 4,994,074, 5,076,807, 5,080,665, 5,085,629 and 5,100,433.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,256 discloses, inter alia, a copolymer derived from a major amount of .epsilon.-caprolactone and a minor amount of a linear aliphatic diol such as butanediol and hexanediol.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,191 discloses a copolymer derived from the polymerization of p-dioxanone in the presence of an initiator, e.g., an alkanol or a glycol, to form a mixture of p-dioxanone homopolymer and unreacted monomer with subsequent polymerization of the mixture with lactide to form the copolymer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,807 discloses a copolymer prepared by polymerizing p-dioxanone with glycolide and/or lactide in the presence of an initiator such as a polyhydric alcohol, e.g., glycerol, mannitol, etc.